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PARKINSON DISEASE

Prodromal Parkinson disease — time is brain

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Biomarkers that predict conversion from isolated REM sleep behaviour disorder to Parkinson disease are urgently needed. A new study finds that detection of misfolded α-synuclein in the cerebrospinal fluid is a good marker of conversion risk, but an inability to predict the timeline of progression might limit its utility.

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Correspondence to Brit Mollenhauer.

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Competing interests

B.M. has received honoraria for consultancy from AbbVie, Amprion, Biogen, Roche and Servier. B.M. is a member of the executive steering committee of the Parkinson Progression Marker Initiative and co-Principal Investigator of the Systemic Synuclein Sampling Study of the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, and has received research funding from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), EU (Horizon2020), Parkinson Fonds Deutschland, Deutsche Parkinson Vereinigung, Parkinson’s Foundation and the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research. S.W. declares no competing interests.

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Weber, S., Mollenhauer, B. Prodromal Parkinson disease — time is brain. Nat Rev Neurol 17, 329–330 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41582-021-00489-6

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